Snap hooks are the worst!

[Cmart050]

Man, it’s enough to drive me crazy! No idea when they will rear their ugly head, and the game is damn near unplayable with them. Takes 4-5 shots to get on every green if the course is tight. Anyone else fighting through these? 

[FuzzyDunlop69]

I was the typical slicer for my first 4-5 years playing golf.  Really only with the driver, not irons.  I got to to where I could play a pretty consistent low cut off the tee.  Then, out of nowhere last summer, I am snap hooking drives like nobody's business, lmao.  I couldn't have snap hooked a ball for $1,000,000 before.

[ANimz]

5 hours ago, Cmart050 said:

Man, it’s enough to drive me crazy! No idea when they will rear their ugly head, and the game is damn near unplayable with them. Takes 4-5 shots to get on every green if the course is tight. Anyone else fighting through these? 

I had them so bad at one point that I felt like giving up the game.  It is truly one of the most frustrating shots in the game.  At the time, I was yanking the club inside bad on the the takeaway, and coming in way under plane.  I fixed the takeaway first, then weakened my grip.  Now I am to the point that the only time I do it is if I early extend/flip.  But when you don't know why it is happening, that is the worst.  

[naj959]

Snap hooks make the game nearly unplayable, especially with the long clubs.  Have to find out what is causing you to have such a large gap between the path and the face. I got in a bad habit of dropping my trail shoulder to shallow out the club. Combine that with a little EE and you've got a recipe for blocks and snappers. 

[mattwood]

Snap hooks off the toe are the shanks evil brother.

[TLUBulldogGolf]

I've definitely battled them from time to time, always when my path gets too extreme. 

[Gr8Balls]

If I show up for a last minute tee time with no warmup it's snap city.  My body doesn't want to move yet, and I try and save it with the hands.  Some days I'll even embrace it and aim wayyy right, but 1/5 will be a push fade fml 🥺

 

What's interesting for me at least, the first few balls at any range session (I'll always start with an 8i) are nice soft straight 3/4 speed bunts.  I've tried to emulate that swing for no warmup opening shots on-course, but can't get it to work.  My home course first shot is a 7i to the corner, so it's not like it's a completely different club or feel, either.

 

Once fully loose and warm the snaps rarely creep in, unless one of two things - not committed to a shot and stall the body, or trying to hit the high pegged AoA way up driver with a draw.  When that driver swing syncs up it's an absolute high towering bomb... But the risk of the snap is almost never worth it in the end.

 

Reflecting on this I really need to find a way to start out rounds without a proper warmup.  Golf is hard enough and starting out knowing the first few balls are likely going sideways is not ideal.  Something mental is keeping me from hitting that soft 3/4 straight one that I can do everytime with a cold range ball.  

 

 

 

[StorminNorman]

Went to get fitted for clubs Saturday, after playing well Friday, and I couldn't even get fitted because it was nothing but snappers.

 

Path got up to as much as 10* right at one point. The more I try to fix it the worse it gets unfortunately. If I wake up and hit a cut to start the day, all is well.

Edited April 10, 2023 by StorminNorman

[jholz]

I reserve a special level of ire for "drop-kick snap hooks." Those induce suicidal thoughts.

[Shushwap]

Book an appointment with a swing coach in your area and get to the root cause of the issue 

I still struggle with snap hooks from time to time 

Atleast I know why I do it now  😆 

Goal for this year is to try and get them under control 

[Elkhair]

1 hour ago, Gr8Balls said:

If I show up for a last minute tee time with no warmup it's snap city.  My body doesn't want to move yet, and I try and save it with the hands.  Some days I'll even embrace it and aim wayyy right, but 1/5 will be a push fade fml 🥺

 

What's interesting for me at least, the first few balls at any range session (I'll always start with an 8i) are nice soft straight 3/4 speed bunts.  I've tried to emulate that swing for no warmup opening shots on-course, but can't get it to work.  My home course first shot is a 7i to the corner, so it's not like it's a completely different club or feel, either.

 

Once fully loose and warm the snaps rarely creep in, unless one of two things - not committed to a shot and stall the body, or trying to hit the high pegged AoA way up driver with a draw.  When that driver swing syncs up it's an absolute high towering bomb... But the risk of the snap is almost never worth it in the end.

 

Reflecting on this I really need to find a way to start out rounds without a proper warmup.  Golf is hard enough and starting out knowing the first few balls are likely going sideways is not ideal.  Something mental is keeping me from hitting that soft 3/4 straight one that I can do everytime with a cold range ball.  

 

 

 

This makes no sense. The body being overly active is what causes hooks. The body reaches its full range of motion too early causing the hands to save it thus causing a hook.

 

Actively trying to use your body more will not help a hook. 

[wagolfer7]

13 minutes ago, Elkhair said:

This makes no sense. The body being overly active is what causes hooks. The body reaches its full range of motion too early causing the hands to save it thus causing a hook.

 

Actively trying to use your body more will not help a hook. 

 

There's plenty of reasons and ways to hit a snap hook.  

 

The body ahead of the arms is a common one, but there are other common ones as well.  Early Right Tilt, Staying on Trail Side Too Long, Shut Clubface throughout, etc. etc.  

 

And for regular inside-out path guys, sometimes thrusting or lazy lower body, will make the path too extreme of in to out.  Getting the lower body active and the lead hip moving behind you, will help neutralize the path.  

 

Completely makes sense for certain players and faults.  

[nsxguy]

23 minutes ago, Elkhair said:

This makes no sense. The body being overly active is what causes hooks. The body reaches its full range of motion too early causing the hands to save it thus causing a hook.

 

Actively trying to use your body more will not help a hook. 

 

Agree with @wagolfer7 , lotsa different possibilities.

 

While I occasionally snapped an iron, it mostly showed up with my driver.

 

7 or so years ago an instructor saw me demo'ing a driver and couldn't figure out why it was spinning near 4K. Put me on camera and saw that I was sliding my entire upper body towards the target. No bueno.

 

So, head back and changing my angle of attack, was the fix. Spin rate dropped immediately to the lower 2,000s and I am a MUCH better driver of the ball now. Way more flush hits and much better consistency.

 

What I DID see happening occasionally was the snapper.

 

My own feeling of what was happening was I was keeping my weight on my back leg causing no weight shift and getting my upper body, shoulder and arms, moving forward and the club face closed too early. Left and left.

 

What I do now - my last thought before swinging driver is "Head back, weight forward". So long as I get that weight forward/hip turn going, no more snappers.

 

I feel iron issues can be somewhat similar. I sometimes get a snapper when I try to take something off a full iron swing. I feel my lower body stalls and the upper body takes over and essentially the same thing happens (as with the driver).

 

I have to tell myself to get the lower body going, even though its a partial swing.

 

Hope this helps (someone )

 

[Gr8Balls]

12 minutes ago, nsxguy said:

 

 

 

My own feeling of what was happening was I was keeping my weight on my back leg causing no weight shift and getting my upper body, shoulder and arms, moving forward and the club face closed too early. Left and left.

 

What I do now - my last thought before swinging driver is "Head back, weight forward". So long as I get that weight forward/hip turn going, no more snappers.

 

I feel iron issues can be somewhat similar. I sometimes get a snapper when I try to take something off a full iron swing. I feel my lower body stalls and the upper body takes over and essentially the same thing happens (as with the driver).

 

I have to tell myself to get the lower body going, even though its a partial swing.

 

Hope this helps (someone )

 

This describes my experience very closely.  I've also got some latent glute and hip issues/degeneration, which when not warmed up equals stall city.  I probably should have mentioned in my last post that I hit a draw predominantly, and fight overdraw/too far in to out path at times. 

 

I'll try to focus on the lower body/pressure shift today as I scramble to get to the 1st tee on time.

[Zitlow]

The backswing pivot separates the clubhead from the ball. The bigger the pivot the bigger the clubhead arc.

 

In the downswing the pivot transports the accelerating clubhead back to the ball. The right arm and right wrist unfolding are like a differential in a car, they speed up the clubhead amplifying the force. 

 

An in tandem three lever release like throwing a baseball or throwing a punch.  

 

 

Edited April 10, 2023 by Zitlow

[Three_Jack]

On 4/10/2023 at 1:06 PM, Elkhair said:

This makes no sense. The body being overly active is what causes hooks. The body reaches its full range of motion too early causing the hands to save it thus causing a hook.

 

Actively trying to use your body more will not help a hook. 

 

Yeah for me personally, I just went through a nasty nasty long bout of hooks. Tried everything, Kwon stuff, gankas style "leave arms up" stuff, typical body rotation/GRF stuff.

 

Finally just decided, I literally can't hook it anymore than I already am and just started feeling(what i used to feel) just snaping my hands right at the ball...

 

Boom straight balls. When I swing at or near max effort, I start even jumping and have that big step out move like the WLD guys have. Completely unintentional too, literally just feeling all hands.

[StorminNorman]

2 hours ago, Three_Jack said:

 

Yeah for me personally, I just went through a nasty nasty long bout of hooks. Tried everything, Kwon stuff, gankas style "leave arms up" stuff, typical body rotation/GRF stuff.

 

Finally just decided, I literally can't hook it anymore than I already am and just started feeling(what i used to feel) just snaping my hands right at the ball...

 

Boom straight balls. When I swing at or near max effort, I start even jumping and have that big step out move like the WLD guys have. Completely unintentional too, literally just feeling all hands.

 

If I try to hit a big hook I almost always cut it, I'm not sure what causes the disconnect in my swing but I'm with you on that. If I try anything that feels "normal" I hook it generally, but if I aim up the right side I tend to hit a baby fade into the right trees lol.

[Pepperturbo]

On 4/8/2023 at 9:37 AM, Cmart050 said:

Man, it’s enough to drive me crazy! No idea when they will rear their ugly head, and the game is damn near unplayable with them. Takes 4-5 shots to get on every green if the course is tight. Anyone else fighting through these? 

You're not alone.  Extremes in any direction are frustrating.  I see some hookers but most of the guys I encounter with comparable annoyances are slicers.  Good luck tackling the obstacle.

[argee1977]

It's a destructive shot for me, but primarily it's always caused by early extension when i just lose the spine angle / side bend in my downswing, which tends to happen when i just rush a little at the top.

 

It's not something you want to fix in a round, but practicing the old flag pole / hockey stick swing works best for me, just wish i could stop aiming up the right when trying the fix!

[naj959]

Nothing worse than waiting for demo day to test new drivers and proceeding to snap hook every club out there 🙃 Something about swinging in front of that many eyes just locks up my body. 

[phizzy30]

It's my miss when my swing is way off.  In to out with the hips stalling on the down swing leading to a shut face. 

[LKNgolf]

The only thing that has worked for me is moving away from a super weak type grip that I was taught as a junior.  I specifically remember starting with a strong grip then our new club pro reducing it to one or zero knuckles showing, right hand completely on top, and then had me drill left arm only swings.  I had so much clubface rotation it’s a miracle I didn’t give up golf altogether.  It took me so long to “unlearn” over rotating the clubface.  Now I try to just lock it in with the right hand and hinge with a basketball shooting motion and literally don’t worry about anything else.  It works for me somehow

[SNIPERBBB]

What really kills me with snap hooks is that it tends for me to just be driver.  Last case of em I had was two years ago with my m1 driver turned down to 7.5* which opens the face 4* I think. Good trick to snap hooks that. 

 

No problems with irons/,3w  when those days came. 

[Fuscinator]

I've mostly been a pretty straight hitter, but returning to golf after the lockdown, on the par 3 course I usually play, I found my ball heading right for the flag and about ten feet away, it would turn dead left and go another 25-50yds. I was having to apologize to people sometimes as much as two holes over. I was so afraid I was going to kill someone, I decided to take a couple of lessons for the first time ever. That worked! (Yay!) It all boiled down to my geometry being way off. The ball had crept a little far forward and a little further away from me (which kind of explains why the hook seemed worse on shorter clubs than longer clubs).

[fried121]

Fought this miss for a long time;  It led to me completely changing my ball flight, because I could not control that miss.  However, doing so has vastly improved my scores in the long run (playing a cut as opposed to a draw)

[Gearhead_T]

On 4/28/2023 at 8:52 AM, SNIPERBBB said:

What really kills me with snap hooks is that it tends for me to just be driver.  Last case of em I had was two years ago with my m1 driver turned down to 7.5* which opens the face 4* I think. Good trick to snap hooks that. 

 

No problems with irons/,3w  when those days came. 

I'd guess you see the worst hooks with driver on shots struck way out on the toe? Driver allows for bigger gear effect than irons, which can result in lots of drawspin.

Drawspin + low speed + low spin = the dreaded snap hook!

[thejazzmarauder]

It might be your grip. I went to a significantly weaker grip, and all hooks disappeared. Allowed me to play offense and swing aggressively, as no matter how hard I close the face, the ball isn’t hooking. Thank you Mike Adams.

[argee1977]

My last two snap hooks have been when being let through by groups whilst playing, i've now settled on not making sure we don't overtake any groups on the course!

[RoyalTroon]

Learn to hit a snap hook and then you own them instead of them owning you.   A snap hook is just another shot in the bag but when not expected it's an unwanted shot.  Much like a dandelion is actually a flower but when introduced into a perfect lawn it is called a weed, it's unwanted, but it's still a flower that sprung up out of nowhere at first dawn.  

[F1Aussie]

I have been getting a low hook with the driver for the last month and it had been doing my head in. Last weekend I made one set up change and it seems to be gone now. My hands had creeped ahead of the ball at set up so that the shaft had been angled forwards. I put my hands slightly behind the ball and seem to have cured it